A Richmond man not only wanted his estranged wife killed but he wanted her to suffer, his imprisoned ex-girlfriend testified Monday.

Kevin Michael Sears, 35, was charged in October after four other people were convicted and sentenced last year for their roles in a murder plot that targeted Jessica Sears of Armada in 2011.

During the hearing in 37th District Court, Mallorie Wilson-Strat said Mr. Sears told her a few weeks after they began dating in late 2010 that he wanted his wife slain, but she couldn’t recall his reason or her reaction to his remark. Two schemes eventually evolved, each involving a different hit man. But the plan unraveled because the second person “hired” was actually an undercover Macomb County Sheriff’s detective.

Wearing blue and orange prison garb and shackled at the wrists to a waist chain, Wilson-Strat, 26, and mother of a 5-year-old girl, testified calmly before District Chief Judge John Chmura that she sought someone to carry out the heinous deed.

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She said she drove a friend, David A. Clark, and another man, Jorden Powell, to Jessica Sears’ home on Capac Road after Clark said he would kill the Armada woman for $10,000. Wilson-Strat said Kevin Sears previously visited her at the Ferndale grocery store where she worked and gave her $1,000 in cash that she later gave to Clark as the down payment.

On March 23, 2011, Clark and Powell entered through a basement window that Kevin Sears said would be unlocked, Wilson-Strat said. The intruders didn’t carry out the hit, thwarted by a door knob child lock on a bedroom door while Jessica Sears, 32, and her children were sleeping.

“He wasn’t happy that she wasn’t murdered and Jessica was now making calls to him that the house was broken into,” Wilson-Strat said of her ex-boyfriend.

She later made contact with a second man who demanded $500 up front and $7,000 after the killing. Sears’ sister, Christina Sears, of Ray Township, later met with the individual. But she had suspicions.

“She had stated she thought he might be a cop,” Wilson-Strat said. She also claimed Kevin Sears explained why he didn’t want to know details about the method the hired man would use.

“Because if his wife was murdered, he’d be the first one they’d look at,” she testified.

Wilson-Strat said that at a meeting April 11, 2011 at the Comfort Suites motel where Christina Sears worked, they gave $500 to the undercover officer.

“I had told him what Kevin said that morning — that he wanted Jessica to suffer…for the pain that Jessica caused him,” the former Ferndale resident said.

Police arrested the two women moments later. They and Clark, formerly of Oak Park, and Powell, formerly of Detroit, were each convicted during 2012 of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and are serving life in prison. They have a chance to be paroled after 15 years.

Wilson-Strat, Christina Sears and Clark were convicted of solicitation to commit murder. Juries also convicted Wilson-Strat, Clark and Powell of first-degree home invasion.

A fifth defendant last year, Bashar Mansour, was charged and later acquitted by a jury.

Following Monday’s testimony in Kevin Sears’ preliminary exam, Chmura ruled enough evidence existed for the Richmond man to stand trial in Circuit Court on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder. Sears remains held in the Macomb County Jail in lieu of $1 million bond.

Defense attorney Timothy Kohler said Wilson-Strat’s testimony failed to show his client asked, wooed or coaxed her to kill Jessica.

“We feel we have a strong case,” said William Dailey, the Macomb County assistant prosecutor on the case.

Kevin and Jessica Sears’ contentious divorce became final on April 18, 2011.